Zac Garrett

After many years of using Linux I bought a MacBook Pro approximately six months ago. After my inital shock of having a new toy reality started to kick in and I wrote about my journey for picking a new laptop. At this point I have used the computer well more than enough to really compare it to my old friend Linux. Continue Reading »

Have you been thinking about making the switch from a PC to Mac? Paul Thurrott has a wonderful article about the difference between a PC and a Mac. Even if you are just barely thinking about switching to a Mac I suggest reading this article.

If you do not know of Paul Thurrott I suggest taking a look at his various sites. You can find links to all of his projects from his personal site.

Being someone who likes the command line, one of the best features of OS X is that it is based on a UNIX variant. This means that it has a ton of power that is hidden behind a stylish GUI. If a user does not want to use this power the operating system functions just fine without any tweaking. The fun comes in when you want to change something and it can easily be altered. You do not have to go into the registry like in Windows, but you get to enjoy the goodness of UNIX’s power. Continue Reading »

For the last week I have been playing heavily with different Linux distributions as I screwed up my laptop as stated in my previous post.

What I am looking for in an operating system:

• XFCE 4.4 - The beta version of XFCE is far superior to the stable version
• Package Management - needs to resolve dependencies and not break other packages
• Above all else, the ability to install on my laptop which is a HP zv5000

I really do not think my demands are all that high. One might think that just about any Linux or BSD version should do the trick.

The first distro I tried was Gentoo as I have heard by many security experts that it is the way to go. The install is far from easy, but I did not expect that. Due to the fact that everything in gentoo compiles on your computer rather than using binary files (rpm or deb) the install took two days to fully install on my laptop. The installer even got corrupt when I was installing so I had to continue via command line. Once I finally got XFCE installed and setup I quickly found out that it was version 4.2 rather than 4.4. After a bit of reading I found out how to upgrade to the newer version. I soon upgraded the entire system and XFCE suddenly downgraded itself. I am sure it was a setting that I made to do this, but it took 4 hours to get it back to 4.4 and it would not fully install still. Eventually I gave up to try something different.

My next endeavor was openBSD. I had been running it successfully in VMware for a month or so prior to this, so I knew what I was getting myself into. I quickly learned that my laptop as a problem with aspi that controls the extra buttons on the laptop, like volume and the like. The issue is that any BSD does not boot properly because of this. That means no BSD’s, which stinks.

I decided to give slackware a go once again. I quickly came to a problem, my laptop’s internal CD drive died a while back. So, I have to use an external USB drive. Slackware’s installer does not support this and I could not find anything about supporting it anywhere. I tried a few different methods to get it to install, after a while I decided I need to just get my laptop back up and running.

After a week of downtime I just wanted to get my laptop back up and running. So, I decided to go back to xubuntu. I went with the Alpha version Feisty Fawn because I couldn’t stand going back to stable version after being down for a week. Mark Shuttleworth is a very smart guy for creating such a usable product. Ubuntu, it is just too easy to use compared to everything else out there.

While growing up I only used Microsoft products as I had no need to use anything else. When Windows XP first came out I purchased it within a week of its release date. At that point you could have even called me a Microsoft Fanboy as anything Microsoft did was absolutely correct there was no other way. I felt like Apple was the root of all evil and Linux was some thing used on servers.

My first glimpse of how Microsoft really operates came with all of the security problems that happened with XP. Instead of staying on top of the security issues they stalled until the bug got into the wild. Even then they would not patch something unless they saw a finical benefit in it. I really started to see this, especially when it came to their browser, Internet Explorer.

After using XP in its default state I became tired of adware that was constantly being installed without my knowledge. This is when I first became aware of open source, or more specificly Mozilla Phoenix, now called Mozilla Firefox. All that I was looking to do was stop the bad software from being installed, what I found was much more. This project was very new at the time, but it was already far easier to use than IE.

I soon started realizing that the anti-virus industry was based on the security flaws from Microsoft. If they did a decent job at creating its products or even just fixed the problems when they got reported I would not have a problem with that as everyone makes mistakes. My real issue was the fact that they just forgot about their users, no major updates, nothing.

At this point I started looking for alternatives, not because I wanted to leave Windows, but because I was disappointed by the support from Microsoft. I soon found Linux and just the sheer number of people willing to help was amazing. Also the various options offered that can be daunting to some I found to be wonderful.

Today I use Linux, but still follow Microsoft because that is what the average person uses. For me to convert back to Windows it will take Microsoft about two years of staying on top of updates and having a secure operating system. Right now I want to believe in Microsoft, but their history speaks for them. It is hard to believe that they have changed until its proven with the test of time.

I have now been running Vista as my primary OS at work since my previous post. In that post I mainly pointed out the negative in Vista, although my stance on Vista has not changed much I have found it to not be as bad as originally reported. It is still a pain to manage, but it is doable.

One of the first things I originally noticed about Vista was the fact that all menus are hidden. I still do not understand why Microsoft did this, the menus make common tasks so much easier, such as copying and pasting. If you do not know the keyboard shortcuts to do these common tasks it takes quite a few clicks to complete the tasks. It seems like they have dumbed down everything to make it not as scary to the new user. The problem is that they completely forgot about all of the average computer users who know how to use a computer already.

I have no problem navigating through Vista as I already know the keyboard shortcuts that thankfully did not change. I have had quite a few problems locating common features in the operating system. I have yet to find a feature that is no longer in the OS, it is just in a completely different place. Quite often the reason for not finding a feature is that they have moved it to a more logical place. (Wow, MS doing something logical?) We are all so used to things being illogical in Windows that it is hard to get used to a little bit of logic.

One of my biggest problems with Vista at the moment is the drivers. I know this has nothing to do with Mircosoft, but it is still an issue. The actual problem in the business world is the lack of good printer drivers, especially 64bit ones. At work we have Xerox printers that worked great out of the box, no problems what so ever. My personal printer is a HP and I have yet to get it working, directly connected or via a Win 2k network shared printer. HP acts like it wants to work, but it seems that the 64bit version of Vista is still not supported. Another printer of ours is a Kodak thermal printer, it just plain does not work. Windows rejects the drivers from the start, no false positives here.

I know that this current period of time is for letting the hardware manufacturers produce drivers for Vista. I am waiting for some good drivers to come out, but have yet to see anything updated for Vista 64bit support. I am also waiting for these same companies to put out drivers for Linux, but thats another box of crackerjacks.

A few days ago I was bored at lunch and opened up minesweeper. Holy… it was updated! All of the sudden I was in a much prettier version of the game, no more windows 98 style of game! It’s its like going from a 1998 web site to a web 2.0 style, simply amazing — graphics wise. The game play is still exactly the same, but that was to be expected. After a few games I had to see the other games that came with it. Solitaire has been completely redone, it was actually fun to play solitaire again. It is one of those things that you just have to play it to really see the differences. They’ve also added a few other games which are fun to blow time, if you happen to have time to blow.

Microsoft has said that blue screens do not exist in Vista, or at least they have made them prettier. I found out this was not the case today. I was surfing amazon.com and a few other sites trying to look for some funky X-acto blades and all of the sudden the computer froze for a few seconds, then *POOF* blue screen! It was exactly like the old Windows 98 blue screens with the core dumps and all. There was nothing pretty about this, it was a normal ol’ blue screen that we have all seen and love.

From a security standpoint Vista has made some remarkable upgrades from XP. To now install any software you need to give it permission. This is going to make it much, much harder to install software in the background, such as virii and other badware. I have to commend Microsoft for doing something right here.

A problem that I have had with Vista is its brand new TCP/IP Stack. Microsoft has tried to clean up its problems in the past with buffer overflows and such by creating a new Stack, but like anything new in the security world its going to have problems. The problem I have had is that it just stops working after two or three days use. The stack will not come back now matter what I do, restarting the network connections, resetting them, nothing. The only solution I have found is to restart the system. I am sure that the crackers (or hackers as the media calls them) have already found holes in this new system to exploit. There is going to be holes, there is no getting around it. The only real question is if Microsoft is going to be quick at fixing them or if they are going to close their eyes and imagine that they are not there.

If you are a Windows user you will eventually use Vista. Personally I do not recommend switching to Vista any time soon, it needs quite a bit of work still. It will probably be ready for stable use after service pack one or sp2 like XP. If you don’t wait for Vista itself to be ready, then you should wait for the drivers to at least be ready. This might happen by January when it is released to the public.

I do not like to use Microsoft products as they have a proven track record of not caring for their customers. They create a beta grade piece of software and release it to the customers as a final product. One example of this is Windows XP; To most of the industry it was a very insecure and unstable OS until service pack 2 (sp2). This operating system was going to be the most secure OS that Microsoft had ever released, it was worm heaven until sp2 which installed a firewall by default. The entire Anti-Virus industry thrives off Microsoft’s bad code.

Microsoft forgot about Internet Explorer (IE) for a good six
years before they decided to patch all of its security holes. This was
great for the anti-virus industry, which would not exist if Microsoft
would keep their code clean. I don’t believe that Mozilla Firefox

would be as large as it is growing to be if Microsoft had just kept IE
secure and up to date. They have finally released a new version of the
browser which is a step in the right direction, but are they now done?
With their current track record I do not expect any future updates to
the software for another six years.

Many people think that I
am anti-Microsoft, this is not necessarily true. What I am against is a
company releasing a product which costs a good hunk of change and then
forgetting about its users. Take for example if a company who makes
TV’s makes a product that crashes at random intervals and anyone can
see what the person is watching. Everyone would be complaining and
would not purchase the product. This is exactly what Microsoft does and
history has proven it time and time again.

I keep waiting for
Microsoft to change its mind on updating its software, the company is
too large at this point. Their focus is so broad that it is hard to
keep everything up-to-date. They are one of the worlds largest and most
successful companies in the world, this is great if the company uses
the success for improving its products. From my experiences Microsoft
does not do this and that is why I choose not to use Microsoft
products.

I have been running Linux as my primary desktop operating system for a few years now. It started out running Red Hat as it was the only thing I knew of at that point. I ran it happily for a while, but when the free desktop changed to fedora I decided to try something new. After trying just about every distro out there I decided on slackware. This system was so stable I didn’t have to do much of anything to keep it up. It ran great for a long time and I learned a ton while using it.
Then there was a huge mistake, I accidentally removed /bin instead of
~/bin, if you are not familiar with Linux this is the folder that holds
a majority of your programs. Removing this folder pretty much means
reinstalling or in my case a reformat and another distro. I had a few month period where I used everything I could find to see what was the easiest to use. I ended up going with broadcom and I was unable to find a way to get them up and running on fedora. I found Ubuntu and heard it was easy to use, I had to give it a shot. Wireless was very easy to setup with ndiswrapper and everything else seemed to work without much work.

After not that long running xfce. The switch could not have been simpler, all that was needed was to go into synaptic — the package manager — and install xfce. On the next login xfce was listed as a session option and everything worked great right off the bat.

I am still using (x)ubuntu

because its so easy to use. It is the easiest computer to manager I
have seen in a long while. The with the package manager installing new
things is a breeze and it keeps everything up to date. With the wikis finding solutions to problems is simple. That is my main reason to stay with ubuntu, ease of use. It is hard to find something better when this works so well.

There are people who say ubuntu is bloated and is no good. This might be true when compared to gentoo and slackware,
but this is just so easy to use compared to them. If you want to
constantly be thinking about your OS you can use those systems.

Ubuntu

works great for me, but that is the wonderful thing about Linux, you
have choices. You are not forced to run one specific thing. My
suggestion is to try multiple distros of Linux and see which one(s) you like and which you do not.

People often ask me why I run Linux, my answer is simple and straight to the point: It just works. Most people respond with, “Windows works”. With all of the virii and spyware out there how can one say that Windows actually works. You can spend more time fighting all of the bad-ware than doing anything else.

It is my belief that the average home user should run Linux. Most
users just user their computer for very basic internet applications
such as browsing the web and email. A switch over to Linux would make
their entire experience easier. With the user not having to worry about
virii and spyware they can enjoy the entire experience of the internet.

The main reason I see for more people not running Linux is the
fact that none of the well known computer manufacturers give the option
of Linux preinstalled. The task of reformatting and installing Linux is
a daunting task to most novice users. With Ubuntu

the task of installing Linux is quite simple, but most users do not
even think about what operating system they run. Much less about
switching to an “alternative” OS.

There is also the problem of
licensing of various things including the ability to play DVD movies
natively. It is not that much of a problem to get DVDs working, but it
does not work out of the box. Most people do not want to have to think
about playing DVDs and just want them to work. I can see where people
are coming from like Richard Stallman that want an operating system
that is 100% free of proprietary software. The issue is that people who
are used to Windows just want things to work, they could care less
about the licenses.

Linux is a great OS, but if we really want
it to gain a large market share something needs to get easier for the
average computer user. As long as Linux runs under GPL I don’t see this
happening. Hardware manufacturers seem to not want to release their
code so that it can natively be included in a distro. If Linux were to
drop the GPL and allow these proprietary “blobs” of code it would allow
for a better end user experience.

Windows Vista RC1 has been out for a while now and I’ve finally got the hardware to give it a try. So, I decided to give the latest release candidate a go.

My test subject
Sun Ultra 20
AMD Opteron 1218 Dual Core and 64bit
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500
2gb RAM 250GB hard drive

This computer should handle just about anything that Microsoft throws at it.

Downloading
To get vista its a 3.7gig DVD ISO download which you can get Vista for free from Microsoft.
It took a few hours for me to download at work, I ended up going home
before it was done. When I got back into the office it was done and I
burnt it to a DVD, no problems thus far.

Installation
The
install was virtually painless. The first neat option was that it
wanted the serial number before you do anything. This is a first in the
Windows installers.The next step was to select which partition should I
install Vista. Since I had Linux on the computer prior the install I
had to do a little repartitioning to get it to use the entire drive.
After this it formatted and went right into the install. A few restarts
later Vista was installed.

Setup
After
the install was done it prompted me for a little bit of information to
get the computer up to speed. This was very normal stuff, time zone,
user, computer name, and some other basic stuff. Simple.

First login
The
first login took a bit of time while the computer setup the account for
the first time. No problem, almost all operating systems do this. Once
logged in the computer looks “pretty”. The first thing I do is look for
the control panel to change some appearance options. I want to make
sure to resolution is good and also change the theme a bit. They have
changed the entire format of changing settings. More options are now
hidden and almost impossible to easily find. This is fine for an
incompetent computer user, but I want to change settings… easily. It
now takes 20 clicks when it used to take 5. The setting names turned
out to be the same, but they are just harder to find. Okay, I’ve got
some basic setting stuff changed around to my liking and its time to
fireup the browser, Internet Explorer 7. Once again the options are
hidden.

There is no file menu, no edit, no help, nothing. After
a little probing I find most of the settings are still there but
hidden. It’s starting to remind me of AOL and not a real web browser.
Now that I’ve found the browser settings, lets actually start browsing
the web. Its got tabs and a search inside the browser itself, no
toolbars needed, great. I am a google addict and so I immediately
wanted to switch the search to have it use google. This was quite
simple. A few clicks and I was converted over to google. The tabs work
quite the same as firefox, no big surprises there. The one thing I did
notice just by habit, control+t brings up a new tab, but it takes two
tabs to get into the search bar. In firefox its only one. This is just
a habit of mine that could easily be fixed. The actual browsing
experience was fairly straight forward. From a web designer standpoint,
there is no simple keystroke to view the source code still. They’ve
even hidden that option too. Once you find the right location to view
the source it still opens notepad. This means no syntax highlighting or
anything cool like that. Notepad is still notepad, nothing new.

Screen Shots

Other programs
Windows
was giving me warnings about not being secure, it wanted an anti-virus
program to be installed. I went online and grabbed a copy of avast home
and it installed like normal. No issues came up with the install, quite
simple. I went to hop on MSN to give it a go, its not there. Wow, a
version of windows that finally is smart enough not to fill it with
bloatware. I did however find quite a few links to install it off of
the web. The install went quite simple, but it wanted to install a ton
of crap. There were some toolbars, rhapsody, and who knows what else.
After unchecking all unnecessary items to install, it was not that bad
to install. The program fired up right after the install with the
normal login prompts. After logging in the first thing I notice is ads,
lots and lots of ads. They are on the user menu and even on the
conversation windows. This is outrageous. The one thing that I liked
about MSN messenger was it had no native ads in it. Now its looking
more like AOL than ever before. Once again I go to find some user
settings to get timestamps on the conversations and to change some
other settings. The setting are gone. Well, not gone, but hidden. It
takes a bit to change the settings, but most of them are still there.

Admin Tools
Something
I really did like about Vista is its native admin tools. They have
tools to monitor hardware and to see exactly what it going on. Well, if
you can find these tools they are a neat feature. They are thrown in
various places, no loger can you just go into administration tools
folder and find all of the goodies.

Problems
While
trying to install Java I took a screenshot and opened up paint to save
it. The java install failed for some reason and paint closed on me.
Then all of the sudden windows explorer shutdown. Thirty seconds later
Windows restarted without any sort of warning. The error logs showed
nothing, so I really have no idea why it couldn’t recover from this
problem. This is not supposed to happen in XP, much less Vista.

Conclusion
Windows
Vista seems like the AOL browser turned into an operating system. It
looks nice, but if you want to do much good luck finding it. You can
easily do many basic functions, but to do anything semi-advanced its a
pain in the ass. I do not look forward to the day I have to support
Vista. It is a pain to do anything with that is not checking email and
browsing the web. Yes, it looks good, but it stops there. The operating
system itself is a playskool OS. This OS is not going to breed any good
techs, its just going to keep people from learning what a computer can
really do.